This kit includes

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  • a Whirley Pop 6 Quart stovetop popper
  
  
  • 4 or 8 Pound Green Coffee Sampler
  
  
  • ten 1/4 pound valve bags for storing your roasted coffee
  
  
  • Book: Home Coffee Roasting: Romance and Revival (optional)
  
  
  • a Bodum Electric Bistro mill (optional) and
  
  
  • a small thermometer (optional) you can choose to add to the popper (installation required)
  
  
  
  



You could buy all these things ala cart from the website - this just lumps them together. 




The Whirley-Pop 6 Quart stovetop popper just happens to be a competent coffee roaster (in the right hands!) and has been our standby stovetop popcorn popper-roaster for years. This is the same stovetop popper you will read about in Home Coffee Roasting by Ken Davids (which we include with the kit). While this method is completely manual (you need to set the right stovetop heat, crank the popper consistently for 7-10 minutes, and dump it out into a colander to cool), you will appreciate roasting 6-9 oz. of coffee at a time (almost twice as much as an air popper or FreshRoast/Hearthware roaster). There are pros and cons to this method.




This method is better for darker roasts and great for espresso. It does produce smoke (more coffee in the batch and darker roasts means more smoke) but a good range hood ought to handle it. You can also use this method on a gas camp stove or other portable heat source outdoors. Makes great popcorn too! The Whirley-Pop is light-gauge aluminum , the plastic gears work well provided you don't overheat it, and the thin wire agitator is more jam-free than the paddle type ones.




If you don't have a coffee grinder, home roasting your coffee means you will need one,  so we include a basic whirley blade mill  here as an option. A blade mill is a fine choice for drip coffee - or makes a passable French press grind.